Driver slice

Firstly, please don't reply with 'have a lesson and the pro will sort you out' - I haven't enough money for any lessons! My driver is outrageously unpredictable and it can make or break my round. Horrendous slice being the key problem. I've tried lots of little things; slowing down the swing, angling the head slightly inward, taking a wider ark.. Nothing has consistantly worked yet. It's extremely annoying because the rest of my game is pretty solid, if I could just begin to sort out my slice off the drive then I should be scoring low/mid 80s regularly. Any help/tips (other than 'get lessons') would be greatly appreciated!! Cheers all.

Have a look at this video here on Golfshake

http://www.golfshake.com/improve/view/4097/Video_3_Ball_Slice_Drill.html

Use a 3 wood.

Asking for help on the internet is fine but thee could be any number of reasons as to why you are slicing it and without actually seeing your swing noone can really give you the correct advice.

Other than ask a pro!

I have also always struggled with a slice off the tee. Over the past month or two, however, I seem to have beaten it.

For me the biggest point to remember has been to ensure I complete my follow through, including turning my body to ensure I dont cut across the ball. I concentrate on focussing on the back of the ball through impact and then ensuring my follow results in my belt buckle aiming at my target.

Like others have said there could be other reasons for a slice - check your set up for starters. Maybe you setting up with an open stance?

I'm no expert, but closing the club face doesnt sound like a great idea - alomist like doing one thing incorrectly to try to cancel another error out

Good luck

I've been trying to sort out my own slice this week and what I found is that the movement of my arms on the upswing was becoming disconected with the rest of my body. I could tell this because the plane of my backswing was too steep, resulting in the clubhead being outside the line to the target. What I found that corrected this was to make sure that during the initial stage of the upswing, that the shaft of the club remains pointing to the belly button. This promotes a fuller turn of the upperbody during the backswing.

I also find that not transfering the weight from right to left foot during the downswing (for the right-hander) is also a candidate for a slice as not doing leaves the body open as the weigh is on the right foot and one rotates around that.

Gripping the club too tight fails to help the release of the club and leaves the face open at impact.

Many golfers who slice off the tee tend to aim a bit further left to compensate, ie aiming for the left hand rough so that with the slice the ball will end up on the fairway. This actually makes things worse because they are opening their stance even further and that is usually the problem in the first place and they are actually making it worse. Make sure your feet are aiming in the direction you want the ball to go. If that doesn't work the problem is usually in the grip, check that your grip is technically correct. Also having incorrect ball position - ball too far forward in stance can cause a driver too slice.

Daniel, I did a lenghy reply yesterday but it didn't take and since noone has put what I was going to put, here's a precis. Firstly, if like me your aim is to hit it straight, rather than playing for the slice/draw etc. then you'll have to get back to basic. If you're slicing (and I assume you don't mean pushing) then you have two issue to address. Firstly your club face is open at impact (push) and you're coming across (out to in) the ball resulting in a slice. Closing the club face may be a short term fix and slowing the swing down, but using the same swing will probably mean same result with less distance. The key is to get the club head sqaure at impact. I have had this problem as of late, my particulat failing was a duck hook. I narrowed it down to my hands and turning my wrists over. During my quest to solve this I found myself, ever so slightly, adjusting my stance and cumulatively over a few weeks I ended up totally out of alighnment. Here is hoew I (hopefully) solved it. Firstly get three poles. First pole pointing at the target and where your feet will touch, the second and third poles in parallel where the teed up ball and clebhead are. These teo poles will help you with your takeaway to ensure that at the top of the backswin your club head is pointing also to the target. Address the ball as if to play a shot. Stop, don't move your upper torso snd chexk with shaft of club that your hips and shoulders are in alighnment with target. If you have all of this correct then, like me it looks like the downswing is where the sh*it hits the fan. For me it was a revelation that after my follow through my driver head was so closed(I couldn't believ that I had been hitting like this for so long) so I conciously thought about my hand/wrist movement and concentrated on making sure my right hand was countered by my left, hey presto instantaneous result. In your case I suspect your left hand is overactive. Think of your thumb position on your left hand at address and try to swing in such a way that at impact your thumb is in the same place. This may mean a reduced rotation anf wrist flex but it's a start to build on and it'll go straight. Don't think about loss of distance. I'd also consider trying this with a 3 wood to start with, I don't know what your driver loft is, I find the lower the loft lends to a fade anyway. I hope this helps, worked for me.

Ask yourself this when you hit a drive does your weight end up off balance.

are you on your heals and leaning backward

When I had my lesson and I saw the video the pro pointed out I was trying to heave the ball and not swinging through the ball.

after he got me balanced on my feet he made sure I didn't swing steeply it felt more around my body and then ensured my weight moved forward over my front footwith my body facing the target.

my swing was shortened and I found not only did this cure my persistant slice it improved my distance so I hit roughly about 250yds on average from about 200yds which I was previously.

might help you, might not but I had the benefit of being able to see my swing from behind and from the side in slow motion.

Too right Gary, I did make a concious effort to shorten my swing as the distance gained v the increased risk of wayward ended up being a no brainer. My problem is that I always tend to 'give it 10% more' and end up losing it all again. Balance is vital too. If I fall into a shot I'll pull it and if I fall out of a shot I'll push it, all generated from moving my head.